Friday, March 27, 2009

(NSI News Source Info) TEHRAN - March 27, 2009: Iran said Thursday that it would attend a U.N. conference on Afghanistan proposed by the United States, and urged a regional solution to the "crisis."
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi said Iran had yet to decide whom to send to next Tuesday's international meeting in The Hague, which will be attended by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and delegates from more than 80 countries.
State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid welcomed news of Iran's participation, which followed President Obama's offer of a "new beginning" in relations. But he said Clinton had no plans for a "substantive" meeting with Iranian officials at the forum.
"This conference is about reaching a regional consensus about Afghanistan. It is not a conference about U.S.-Iranian relations," he said.
Clinton said this month Iran would be invited to the meeting on Afghanistan, which battles a growing Islamist Taliban insurgency, in a U.S. overture which recognizes the Shiite Muslim power's influence on its troubled neighbor.
Iran and the United States have not had diplomatic ties for three decades and are at odds over Iran's nuclear work.
But analysts say they share an interest in ensuring a stable Afghanistan, where violence is at its highest level since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.
"Iran will participate," Qashqavi said. "The level of participation is not clear."
Clinton is expected to provide details of a review of U.S. strategy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan, which is set to be released before the conference.
Iran says that the United States is failing in Afghanistan but that Iran is ready to help its eastern neighbor.
Obama last month ordered the deployment of 17,000 extra U.S. troops to the country. Iran has often called for U.S. forces to leave the region, saying they are making the situation worse.
Qashqavi said Iran would also attend a separate meeting on Afghanistan in Moscow this week.
In a major shift from the policies of his predecessor, George W. Bush, who sought to isolate Iran over nuclear work the West suspects is aimed at making weapons, Obama has offered to extend a hand of peace to Iran if "it unclenches its fist."
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Saturday that he had so far seen no change in U.S. behavior but that Iran would respond to any real policy shift by the United States. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful power purposes.

(NSI News Source Info) Seoul - March 27, 2009: Japan's military is getting ready to shoot down part or all of the rocket North Korea is planning to launch, if it looks like it will land anywhere on Japanese territory. Meanwhile, senior regional envoys are heading to Washington to craft a diplomatic response to the imminent launch. Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force's warships 7,250-ton DDG Kongou, left, and 7,250-ton DDG Choukai are moored at JMSDF Sasebo Base in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture (state), southwestern Japan, Friday, March 27, 2009. The pair of destroyers carrying SM-3 sea-to-air missiles would be deployed to the Sea of Japan as Japan's defense minister ordered the deployment of missile interceptors to the northern coast on Friday to shoot down any debris that could fall on Japanese territory if a North Korean rocket launch fails.
Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force's warships are moored at JMSDF Sasebo Base in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture (state), southwestern Japan, Friday, 27 Mar 2009

Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada says he has ordered the interception of any dangerous debris, if anything goes wrong with North Korea's planned rocket launch.

He says any missile or rocket flying over Japan is unacceptable, and adds Japan will take approriate measures with anything that affects the nation's interests.

Hamada's comments follow a meeting of Japan's Security Council Friday, at which senior officials voted to approve the use of missile defense technology to destroy any part of the North Korean rocket that looks like it will land on Japan.

North Korea says it will launch, what it says is a communications satellite, sometime between April 4 and April 8. The trajectory is expected to cross Northern Japanese territory.

South Korea, Japan, and the United States view the planned launch as an unacceptable attempt to advance the North's ballistic missile program.

The long-range rocket Pyongyang intends to launch is theoretically capable of delivering a warhead as far as the western United States.

Leaders of all three countries, including Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, say the launch will violate a United Nations resolution passed after North Korea's 2006 nuclear weapon test.

He says Japan will strongly protest through the United Nations, while also urging North Korea not to carry out the launch.

North Korea says attempts to shoot down its rocket will be an act of war, and that any additional U.N. sanctions resulting from the launch will deal a fatal blow to six-nation talks aimed at ending the North's nuclear weapons programs.

South Korea's delegate to those talks left Friday for Washington for high-level consulations on a diplomatic response to the launch.

(NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON - March 27, 2009: President Barack Obama has declared that the United States must "disrupt, defeat and dismantle" the al-Qaida terrorist organization and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

U.S. President Barack Obama (L) speaks about Afghanistan and Pakistan while (L-R) policy adviser Bruce Riedel, Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen, National Security Adviser James Jones, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of DefenseRobert Gates, Undersecretary of Defense for policy, Michelle A. Flournoy, and Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Charles Albert Holbrooke in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on March 27, 2009 in Washington, DC. President Obama announced a new strategy consisting of increasing troops in Afghanistan while boosting aid in Pakistan with the hopes of weakening al-Qaeda.

Announcing plans for an increased American troop presence in Afghanistan, Obama also said that it's important for the American people to understand that Pakistan "needs our help" in going after terrorists.

He called the situation in Afghanistan "increasingly perilous." The administration has already approved sending 17,000 additional combat troops to Afghanistan and was ready to announce another 4,000 to go there.

Obama said that if the Afghan government falls to the Taliban or allows al Qaida to go unchallenged, "that country will be a base for terrorists who want to kill us."

(NSI News Source Info) March 27, 2009: The cabinet has rejected a request for the export of replacement parts for anti-aircraft systems to Pakistan due to the instable political situation in the country.

The Asian nation was the largest buyer of Swiss arms last year.

The Oerlikon 35 mm twin cannon is a towed anti-aircraft gun made by Oerlikon-Contraves. The system was originally designated as 2 ZLA/353 ML but this was later changed to GDF-001. It was developed in the late 1950s and is used by around 30 countries. Pakistan estimated 200 GDF-002 units.

A spokeswoman for the economics ministry said on Wednesday that Switzerland would reconsider its policy if and when other European countries restarted exporting arms to Pakistan. The cabinet also rejected a request for the export of weapons to Egypt and Saudi Arabia because of the unsatisfactory human rights situation in those countries.

However, it approved the sale of hundreds of rifles and machine guns to India to equip the police in various parts of the country, and the delivery of parts for air-to-air guided missiles and anti-aircraft guns to South Korea.

The pacificist group, Switzerland without an army, wants to ban the export of arms, and has collected enough signatures to bring the issue to a nationwide vote. A date still has to be set for the vote.

(NSI News Source Info) March 27, 2009: Military and civilian officials gathered March 23 to commemorate the 10,000th surface shipment of mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles, known as MRAPs, to the U.S. Central Command area of operations, which includes Iraq and Afghanistan.

Air Force Gen. Duncan J. McNabb, commander of U.S. Transportation Command, and Army Maj. Gen. James L. Hodge, commander of Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command, attended the event at Wharf Alpha at the Naval Weapons Station Charleston here. SDDC’s 841st Transportation Battalion served as host for the commemoration.

In his remarks, Army Lt. Col. Randy Haufe, battalion commanding officer, acknowledged the team effort responsible for this milestone. He recognized his civilian and military workforce and that of the International Longshoremen Association from Terminal Corporation-East for their dedication in accomplishing this and other vital port operations here.

Hodge also saluted the efforts of those involved in the shipment of MRAPs, which he described as “the best equipment our service men and women could have available as they serve in harm’s way.”

McNabb recognized the professionalism and dedication involved on everyone’s part in the safe, secure and efficient shipment of the 10,000 MRAPs. “These lifesaving vehicles are proving their value every day in protecting our warfighters and keeping them safe.”

Army Capt. Lonnie Nipper of the 841st, who recently returned from a 12-month tour in Iraq, shared his personal experiences with the MRAP.

In Iraq, Nipper worked with about 15 soldiers as part of a military transition team responsible for mentoring and advising Iraqi forces. He recalled when improvised explosive devices hit his convoy of MRAPs. Though MRAPs were delayed by flat tires, vehicle damage and, on one occasion, one flipped over, there were no casualties.

“If it wasn’t for the people working diligently here getting these vehicles ready and shipped over to us, we wouldn’t be able to accomplish our mission,” Nipper said. “So, thank you.”

The ship carrying the 10,000th MRAP, the MV Alliance New York, is the same ship that delivered the first MRAP carried by surface to the Central Command theater of operations in November 2007.

(NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON - March 27, 2009: A key US senator said on Thursday that the United States and Iran might begin their cooperation for stabilising Afghanistan after a meeting between officials of the two countries in The Hague next week.
‘We also need to reach out to Afghanistan’s other neighbours, including India, China, and Iran,’ Senator John Kerry told the confirmation hearing for the new US ambassador to Afghanistan.Sen. John Kerry and the Sen. Richard Lugar preside over the hearing on the Iranian situation on Capitol Hill in Washington.
The former Democratic presidential candidate, who now heads the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, noted that in 2001 and 2002, Iran helped to stabilise Afghanistan. ‘And the Obama administration is right to explore how our interests might coincide again on this issue, beginning at the Hague Conference next week,’ he added.
Earlier on Thursday, Hasan Qashqavi, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, told reporters in Tehran that Iran would join the United States at two international conferences on Afghanistan, including the one at The Hague which begins on March 31.
‘The level of participation is yet to be determined,’ he added. Last week, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton officially invited Iran to the Hague conference.
The US move is seen in Tehran as a moral victory for the Iranian government, which was castigated by the Bush administration as part of an ‘Axis of Evil’.
Although the US still plays a leading role in the campaign against Iran’s nuclear programme, the US decision to involve it in its efforts to stabilise Afghanistan enhances the stature of the Iranian government.
Both the Afghan President Hamid Karzai and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon are expected to attend. Other attendees will include foreign ministers from countries in the region, countries that are part of the International Security Assistance Force and other countries and organisations that are contributing to reconstruction in Afghanistan.
At the confirmation hearing, Senator Kerry outlined some of the salient features of a new US strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, which is expected to be announced on Friday.
The new strategy also seeks to triple US economic assistance to Pakistan and a greater engagement with the Afghans.
‘I will soon be re-introducing with Senator Lugar the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act, which seeks to triple non-military aid to the people of Pakistan,’ Senator Kerry said.
The proposed legislation will also hold Pakistan’s ‘security forces more accountable for assistance provided in their fight against the Pakistani Taliban and Al Qaeda,’ he added.
Senator Richard Lugar, a ranking Republican member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which authorises US foreign aid, also has pledged to support the bill.
‘We can all agree that today Afghanistan, along with its neighbour Pakistan, represents the central front in our global campaign against terrorism,’ Senator Kerry told the confirmation hearing.
Referring to the new strategy, Senator Kerry stressed the need for a regional approach for bringing peace and stability to Afghanistan. ‘Our strategy must also reflect the interconnectedness of the region’s challenges,’ he said.
‘This requires redoubling our efforts to strengthen Pakistan’s civilian government and support its activities against militants in the tribal belt.’ That’s why, he said, he was seeking to triple US assistance to Pakistan.
Senator Kerry noted that President Barak Obama has pledged to recommit to Afghanistan, beginning with the deployment of 17,000 additional US troops and a significant effort to increase the size and capacity of Afghan security forces. He said while he supported this move, he also believed that ‘troops alone will not bring victory.’

(NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON - March 27, 2009: President Barack Obama on Friday will unveil a new US strategy for the war in Afghanistan designed to turn the tide against a growing insurgency, the White House said.
As Obama briefed lawmakers on his plan Thursday, defense officials said the president was planning to send an additional 4,000 troops to train Afghan security forces later this year. President Obama holds an 'Open For Questions' town hall style meeting in the East Room of the White House in Washington.
The move to deploy an extra brigade follows Obama's decision last month to send in 17,000 reinforcements to take on insurgents challenging the Kabul government in the south and east of the country.
‘The president is making calls and briefing members of Congress based on the conclusion of that review, that the president will announce tomorrow at the White House,’ spokesman Robert Gibbs told a news conference.
The strategy is expected to rely on more US boots on the ground, expanding Kabul's security forces, wooing ‘moderate’ insurgents, stepping up civilian aid efforts and a diplomatic push focused on Pakistan's role.
Obama over the weekend said it was crucial to set out an approach that would allow the United States to eventually leave the country, after more than seven years of war.
‘There's got to be an exit strategy,’ Obama told CBS television's ‘60 Minutes’ program.
‘There's got to be a sense that this is not a perpetual drift.’ Outlines of the blueprint have emerged in recent weeks, including plans to bolster development projects and tackle insurgent havens across the border in Pakistan.
Officials said the strategy would likely bring no major surprises when it is announced on Friday.
‘Separate elements of this have already been discussed in other public forums,’ a US defense official told AFP.
The ‘civilian surge’ planned by the administration would involve hundreds of experts to help with agricultural, administrative and other development projects designed to improve local and regional government, officials said.
Even before the strategy review was finished, Obama approved reinforcements of 17,000 to join the 38,000-strong US force along with other Nato troops.
An additional brigade of 4,000 will arrive later to help with the recruitment and training of a larger Afghan army and police force, which the administration is betting will one day take over security duties.
Compared to December, US troops levels are set to double by the end of the summer, Pentagon officials said.
The day before the president was to present his strategy, his pick to be ambassador to Kabul warned that the new approach in Afghanistan would fail unless Pakistan cracks down on extremists.

(NSI News Source Info) March 27, 2009: M113s are the only tracked vehicle in the Australian Defence Force’s (ADF’s) fleet of armoured troop transports used for transporting and supporting infantry in a battlefield. M113s first saw service with the ADF during the Vietnam War and are undergoing a major upgrade to improve protection, lethality, mobility and habitability.

2. Currently, 431 upgraded M113s are on order for delivery by the end of 2011 under Project Land 106: Upgrade of M113 Armoured Vehicles. The initial purchase in July 2002 of 350 upgraded vehicles for delivery by December 2010 was extended in December 2008 to include an additional 81 upgraded M113s as part of the Enhanced Land Force (ELF) initiative.Nine years on, Australia’s A$ 1 billion M-113 upgrade program has only delivered 42 vehicles out of the 431 that are due to be delivered by late 2010.

3. With total anticipated expenditure in the order of $1 billion, the upgrade is one of Defence’s top 30 projects by forecast 2008–09 expenditure, with some $100 million in expenditure under Project Land 106 forecast for this financial year.

4. Upgraded M113s are to be a core component of the ADF’s capability. They are fundamental equipment for Army’s two mechanised battalions, the 5th and 7th Royal Australian Regiments (7RARand 5RAR), and are currently forecast to be in service until 2020.

The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) previously examined the Department of Defence’s (Defence’s) progress in delivering this project in Audit Report No.32005–06, Management of the M113 Armoured Personnel Carrier Upgrade Project. Given the continuing significance of this project and developments since the 2005–06 audit, the ANAO scheduled this audit to provide updates on the progress against Project Land 106’s stated schedule, cost and technical performance objectives, and on Defence’s implementation of the recommendations and findings of the previous audit.

8. The M113 Major Upgrade Project commenced in July 2002 and has suffered a series of delays. Army has so far received 42 of the vehicles to be upgraded (see Table 1.3). Of these, 16 are in service with 7RAR, five are awaiting issue to units and the remaining 21 are allocated primarily to driver and crew training units.

9. Many of the initial technical difficulties with the Project were resolved by the end of 2007, at which time extensive negotiations with the Prime Contractor were successfully concluded. Those negotiations enabled final production to get under way and reaffirmed the December 2010 delivery date.

Subsequently, however, production has been slow. In July 2008, the Prime Contractor informed Defence that the existing production facilities at Bandiana, Victoria, were not adequate to the task and, at December 2008, there was a potential shortfall of around 100 upgraded vehicles by December 2010.

11. Defence is currently working with the Prime Contractor on measures to improve and expand the M113 production facilities and recover the anticipated production shortfall. On 28 October 2008, the Minister for Defence announced that additional production will occur at Williamstown, Victoria, and Wingfield, South Australia. ANAO notes that recovering the production schedule will be challenging.

12. Defence advised that the upgradedM113s achieved a limited Initial Operational Capability as of December 2007 and could, if circumstances required, be deployed. However, Defence has yet to complete the Operational Testing and Evaluation of the upgraded vehicles, which is necessary to achieve Operational Release. In light of increasing threats, Defence is considering additional protection for its M113s, at a potential additional cost of up to $0.2million per vehicle, if they are deployed on more hazardous missions.

13. As of September2008, the 16 upgraded M113s delivered to 7RAR had travelled less than 1000 kilometres. They were first used in a training exercise in November 2008 and, by December 2008, had travelled almost 9000 kilometres. Defence advised ANAO in December 2008 that, notwithstanding delays in the delivery of the upgraded M113s, demands on capability had been manageable. This was due, in part, to Defence’s ability to use alternative armoured troop transports, and because troops who would otherwise have been assigned to M113s were necessarily deployed elsewhere on operations.

Defence advised ANAO in December 2008 that: The development of the [upgraded M113] capability is adversely impacted by support to operations. This cost has been assessed and accepted by Chief of Army as Capability Manager. Indeed, the cost is manageable within Army’s wider priorities and strategic guidance.

14. Until it receives all its upgraded vehicles, Defence will continue to operate its fleet of original M113s, many of which are over 35 years old. At the time of this audit, Defence’s assessment was that there were no viable alternatives to the upgraded M113.

Click here for the full report (126 pages in PDF format) on the ANAO website.

(NSI News Source Info) MOSCOW - March 27, 2009: Kyrgyzstan has invited the U.S. to discuss retaining the Manas Air Base outside Bishkek that serves as a key supply route to Afghanistan, a senior U.S. official said in Moscow on March 27.
"We've agreed to enter into discussions with the Kyrgyz at their invitation on the possibility of the agreement (on the air base remaining in force)," the official, who asked not to be named, said in Moscow.
Kyrgyzstan on Feb. 20 officially set in motion the process for closing the airbase at Manas, outside the Kyrgyz capital, by handing the U.S. a 180-day notice to leave the base.
The base is a vital support post for U.S. and Western operations, as it is used for ferrying tens of thousands of troops in and out of Afghanistan each year and also hosts planes used for mid-air refueling of combat craft.
Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Kadyrbek Sarbayev said on March 26 after talks in Moscow that Kyrgyzstan was not reconsidering its decision to close the U.S. airbase.

(NSI News Source Info) ROME - March 27, 2009: Saab is set to team with Finmeccanica unit Selex Galileo to develop an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar for its Gripen Next Generation (NG) aircraft, the firm said March 26. The radar will be offered to Brazil, which is considering the Gripen NG for a new fighter order, Saab said, but the signed heads of agreement also foresees "long-term collaboration" between Selex and two Saab units, Saab Aerosystems and Saab Microwave Systems. A Saab spokesman did not rule out offering the radar for upgrades of Gripens that are already in service.
The radar will be based on Selex's Vixen e-scan radar, but also will use "functionality" from the PS-05/A radar currently mounted on Gripen aircraft, the firm said.
Selex this week announced the first sale of its e-scan Vixen radar, albeit a smaller version than that destined for the Gripen. U.S. Customs and Border Protection will mount the radar on its C-550 Citation Tracker aircraft.

(NSI News Source Info) ROME - March 27, 2009: Finmeccanica unit Selex Sistemi Integrati has won a 260 million euro ($353.5 million) contract to provide the Italian Air Force with D-band radar systems, the firm said March 24.
The contract covers 12 RAT 31 DL long-range air surveillance radar systems in fixed (FADR) configuration, with logistical support, to be delivered by 2014, the firm said. RAT 31 DL/M Radar systems are based on the technology used for the RAT 31 DL/FADR (Fixed Air Defence Radar) systems, in service or on delivery to a large number of NATO/European and extra European countries, both in fixed or transportable configuration. The compact L-Band RAT 31 DL/M Radar system derives from successful RAT 31 DL, a NATO standard, already selected by eight countries. The current production of these systems carries the highest maturity and technological level.
The RAT 31 DL/M Radar systems, consisting of a foldable antenna and a shelter, both in two ISO 20 ft packages, can be transported in one A400M type aircraft as well as on truck and rail. This configuration allows for a high degree of mobility and fast deployment/re-deployment of the system, which is carried out autonomously, without external cranes or other on-site technical support, also on unprepared sites.
The Air Force is likely to order a further two RAT 31 DL radars in the mobile, or DADR, configuration by year's end, Italian sources said.
The new radars will replace S-band RAT 31 SL radars delivered in the 1980s and 1990s, thus enabling the Italian government to utilize some S-band frequencies for WiMAX high-speed wireless Internet connections.
Selex said 20 RAT 31 FADR radars have to date been bought by eight countries, while two DADR systems have been acquired by the German Air Force.
In Italy, Selex is likely to sign shortly to provide further radars to the Italian Army and Navy, Italian sources said.

(NSI News Source Info) PARIS - March 27, 2009: DCNS is poised to open formal negotiations with Greece for the sale of up to six FREMM multimission frigates, said Alain Fougeron, the sales and marketing executive vice president at the French naval company.
"We are preparing for negotiations, which have not yet started," for four or six ships, including options, he said March 24. "We hope to close the negotiations as soon as possible. That goes for both sides."
Fougeron gave no price details on the 6,000-metric-ton Frégate Européene Multimission (FREMM), co-developed by France and Italy. The FREMM Multipurpose Frigate (French Frégate multi-mission or Italian Fregata Europea Multi-Missione) is a ship designed by DCN and Fincantieri to operate in anti-air, anti-submarine and anti-ship warfare, and be capable of carrying out deep strikes against land targets.
The French Navy plans to operate eleven FREMM frigates, and the Marina Militare ten. The first commissionings are expected in 2012 when the first of the French vessels is due in service (France has placed orders for 11 FREMM frigates, Italy 6 with the last 4 has been funded at the end of 2007). The ships will be built in France by Armaris (owned by DCNS, and in Italy by Orizzonte Sistemi Navali (a joint venture between shipbuilder Fincantieri and aerospace firm Finmeccanica). This arrangement extends the partnerships forged for development of the Horizon CNGFs (Common New Generation Frigates). Morocco has bought one frigate to be operated by the Royal Moroccan Navy, while Greece announced the order of six vessels equipped with the SCALP Navalcruise missile.France will use 9 frigates to replace the anti-submarine Tourville class frigates (F67 type), the anti-submarine Georges Leygues class frigates (F70 type) and 2 FREDA frigates to replace the two units of the anti-aircraft Cassard class.
Italy will build 4 ASW and 6 general-purpose (GP) frigates to replace the (8) Maestrale and (4) Lupo class frigates.
Greece will built 6 general-purpose (GP) frigates to replace equal number of Elli class frigates.
The first eight French ships have been named Aquitaine, Normandie, Provence, Bretagne, Auvergne, Languedoc, Alsace and Lorraine. The first two Italian ships have been named Carlo Bergamini and Carlo Margottini.
But the economic crisis has hit Greece hard, making it tougher for the government to pay for planned purchases of the new warships and combat aircraft.
DCNS asked European missile maker MBDA to be part of the French warship offer, which beat proposals from other companies, including Italy's version of the FREMM, Fougeron said. The Italian FREMM has a different combat management system, he said.
MBDA has Finmeccanica of Italy as a shareholder alongside EADS and BAE Systems.
DCNS has a cooperation agreement with local partner Elefsis Shipyards. DCNS last year opened an office in Athens.
In January, Greek Defense Minister Vangelis Meimarakis said the authorities had authorized bilateral talks with France to buy six FREMM warships and 15 Super Puma search-and-rescue helicopters.
The estimated price of a FREMM ship is about 500 million euros ($678 million).
DCNS believes the Hellenic Navy's difficulties in getting a German-built U-214 conventional submarine into service could be helpful in efforts to sell a French boat to Pakistan.
Meimarakis said that Greece is trying to renegotiate a contract for a German-built conventional submarine because of technical problems, Reuters reported Jan. 22. The German four-submarine contract is reported to be worth about four billion euros, with three other 214 boats under contract.
The difficulties of the Greek submarine, the Papanikolis, has probably led Pakistan to reconsider a planned buy of the 214 from Howaldstwerke Deutsche-Werft (HDW), leaving the door open to DCNS' Marlin, an all-French derivative of the Franco-Spanish Scorpene. HDW is part of Germany's ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems.
The last of three Agosta 90 submarines built for Pakistan's Navy took to the sea in September, equipped with the Mesma air-independent propulsion (AIP) system, Fougeron said.
The AIP system, which allows the submarine to operate for longer periods underwater, has been used heavily and is working well, he said. Two earlier Agosta 90 submarines have been retrofitted with the air-independent propulsion system.

(NSI News Source Info) QUITO, Ecuador - March 27, 2009: Ecuador will transform a military base now used by U.S. forces into a center for its operations on the Colombian border when American personnel leave in November, local media reported March 24. Ecuador's soldiers stand next to an arsenal found on Friday during military operations in Tobar Donoso, some 160 km north of Quito, near to the border with Colombia. The arsenal was destroyed, officials said.
The Manta Air Base on Ecuador's Pacific coast is currently a key logistics hub for Washington's fight again South American drug traffickers.
But Ecuador's leftist president, Rafael Correa, has indicated his country will not renew the base's 10-year lease when it expires later this year.
Ecuador's joint commander-in-chief, Fabien Varela, told local television station Ecuavisa the armed forces plan to use Manta as a platform for air force reconnaissance and unmanned aircraft operating near the Colombian frontier.
"In this case the armed forces that are deployed on the long and wide northern frontier (with Colombia) would be better synergized, coordinated, producing better operational results."
Quito and Bogota broke off diplomatic relations a year ago over a Colombian military attack on a Colombian FARC rebel camp inside Ecuador that killed 25 people. Since then, Ecuador has been beefing up its border region.

(NSI News Source Info) MOSCOW - March 27, 2009: Russia is not aware of any plans for U.S. and Iranian diplomats to meet in Moscow on the sidelines of a conference on Afghanistan on Friday, but it is ready to help arrange such a meeting, the Foreign Ministry said.
"We have no such information, but if such an intention is announced, Russia as the host country is ready to provide any assistance that may be necessary," official ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said on Thursday.
The international conference on Afghanistan is to focus on efforts to counter terrorism and drug trafficking in the war-ravaged Central Asian state.
The conference will be held under the aegis of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a security group that comprises Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.
Nesterenko said the U.S. delegation at the conference would be led by Patrick Moon, the principal deputy assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs, and the Iranian delegation would be led by Deputy Foreign Minister Mehdi Akhondzadeh.
He said talks between U.S. and Iranian officials would "help ease tension around Iran as well as the situation in the region as a whole."
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow said it had no information about a possible meeting between Iranian and American diplomats in Moscow.
Russia has welcomed Washington's moves toward engagement with Tehran under President Barack Obama, including a video message of congratulations on the Iranian New Year.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said last Friday that it was "important for us that the new [U.S.] administration is making advances to Tehran."
The first direct talks between senior U.S. and Iranian officials in almost 30 years were held in Baghdad last May, when the two countries' ambassadors to Iraq held talks strictly limited to the situation in the country.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy And His Wife Madame Carla Bruni In London

(NSI News Source Info) March 27, 2009: French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni arrive for a state banquet at the Guildhall in London on March 27, 2008. France and Britain vowed Thursday to turn their "entente cordiale" into an "entente amicale", working together on issues from tackling the global credit crunch to fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

(NSI News Source Info) March 27, 2009: French President Nicolas Sarkozy reviews the guard of honor upon his arrival to meet Democratic Republic of Congo's President Joseph Kabila at the Nation Presidential Palace in Kinshasa on March 26, 2009. Sarkozy called for a "new momentum" on cooperation in Africa's troubled Great Lakes region, in a speech to lawmakers in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In an address to a joint session of parliament, Sarkozy also praised his DR Congo counterpart Joseph Kabila for his "courageous decision" to mount a joint military operation with Rwanda to oust rebels in eastern Congo.

Taliban 'Receives Direct Support From Pakistan' / ISI Helping Taliban In Southern Afghanistan: Report / Afghan Intel Chief: Pakistan Spies Support Taliban*There is no solution to Afghanistan war, unless or until Pakistan is sincere in supporting NATO forces fight against terrorism Taliban and al Qaeda, which is next to impossible. President Asif Ali Zardari or Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani may commit with the American numerous agreements, but the real power behind the stage controlling the strings are with Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani and his buddies ISI mentor of the Taliban. It is not in the interest of Pakistani army to shorten or conclude Afghan conflict, by prolonging Afghanistan war, the rewards are bountiful American economy and military aid over $10 billion in the last few years.Pervez Musharraf was playing 'double game' with US and his successor are towing the same. (DTN Defence-Technology News)*Pervez Musharraf was playing 'double game' with US From Times Online February 17, 2009
(NSI News Source Info) March 27, 2009: American officials, quoted by The New York Times, said that members of Pakistan's Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) were helping the Taliban with money, military supplies and strategic planning.
The report calls into question assurances given by every Pakistani government and most recently by President Asif Ali Zardari. Since the terrorist attacks on September 11, Pakistan has promised to help the West to defeat the Taliban and break up al-Qaeda cells. US officials have occasionally leaked claims of the ISI's collusion with the Taliban in order to place pressure on Pakistan to do more against extremism.
But the report quoted US officials as saying that the ISI's "S" wing maintains links with at least three armed groups striking inside Afghanistan. This branch of the agency deals with overseas intelligence-gathering and has a target of Western suspicion in the past.
The United States government will on Friday unveil a major review of the war in Afghanistan and outline how President Barack Obama plans boost troop numbers to take the fight to the Taliban.
Mr Obama's new strategy is expected to stress more co-operation with Pakistan to thwart the ambitions of the Taliban, as well as more international troops, vastly expanded Afghan security forces and a surge of civilian contractors to help development and rebuilding.
Richard Holbrooke, the US special envoy to the region, has warned that the Taliban-led insurgency is receiving huge donations from individuals in Gulf states that when combined exceed the income the insurgents gain annually from the drugs trade.
General Ashfaq Kiyani, the army commander, told Western diplomats two years ago, when he served as head of the ISI, that a cell had been set up to counter the "S" wing's rogue activities. Pakistan helped found the Taliban in 1994 and aided its rise to power and the capture of Afghanistan's capital, Kabul in 1996.
Since then, Pakistan's establishment has played a delicate balancing act between retaining its own influence in Afghanistan through its Taliban proxies and jeopardising its relationship with America. US officials have evidence that senior Pakistani officials ordered the attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul, last year.
But this has become an increasingly dangerous policy for Pakistan. Some of its former proxies have now turned on their benefactor and begun attacks inside Pakistan itself, posing a direct threat to the country's stability and to Mr Zardari's government.
Yesterday's report suggested that the ISI drew a distinction between extremist groups focused on destabilising Pakistan and those primarily concerned with attacking Afghanistan. The ISI was allegedly opposing the former while helping the latter.
But US officials have occasionally leaked claims of the ISI's collusion with the Taliban in order to place pressure on Pakistan to do more against extremism.
The West has grown increasingly frustrated with its own lack of success in Afghanistan. As American attention has shifted from Iraq, Washington is refocusing efforts on Pakistan and Afghanistan. President Barack Obama's administration will today outline its new plan to deal jointly with the challenge posed by both countries.
America may increase the scope and range of its missile attacks on Pakistani soil that are launched from unmanned drone aircraft. Pakistan publicly complains that US missile strikes are "infringements of national sovereignty". However, many of the American drone aircraft are stationed and armed at a Pakistani airbase in the southern province of Baluchistan. Pakistan designates corridors and boxes inside its airspace within which the drones are allowed to operate.
Baluchistan's capital, Quetta, is deemed by Western intelligence officers to be the home of the Taliban's main shura or council. The Taliban's overall leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, is believed to have found refuge in the city.
The New York Times said there was evidence ISI operatives were meeting regularly with Taliban commanders. Pakistani officials said that operatives sometimes cultivate relationships with the Taliban as means of creating a backchannel with the "enemy".

Mullah Mohammed Omar has reassembled his power base, U.S. officials say as they outline strategy in Afghanistan. Thousands of additional U.S. troops will be sent to train Afghan forces.

(NSI News Source Info) Washington - March 27, 2009: Afghanistan's former Taliban leader is pursuing a strategy to reclaim power, the top U.S. intelligence official said today, identifying a key administration concern as the White House prepared to unveil a new plan to step up combat operations and stabilization efforts.

Opium and wheat farmer Haji Granj, age 70, complains about Taliban roadside bombs while speaking with U.S. Marines on patrol on March 26, 2009 near Bakwa in southwestern Afghanistan. Marines from the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment patrol daily in the area, often with Afghan police. Local opium poppy and wheat farmers say the presence of the Marines has improved security in the region, formerly controlled by the Taliban, although Taliban insurgents continue to creep into the area and plant IEDs on the road at night. Some 17,000 additional U.S. forces will arrive soon to Afghanistan, with the aim of yet further extending the area of U.S. and Afghan government control into more remote areas of the country.

The Taliban leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, was driven from power by the U.S. invasion in 2001 but has reassembled much of his base in Pakistan, where he leads a council of Islamic hard-liners accused of directing insurgent attacks across the border in Afghanistan.
However, U.S. spy agencies lack a detailed understanding of the regional dynamics across much of Afghanistan, said Dennis C. Blair, the director of national intelligence.

"We know a heck of a lot more about Iraq on a very granular basis than we do in Afghanistan," Blair said, describing an intelligence imbalance that could hamper the Obama administration's efforts as it shifts troops from one war theater to the other.

A new strategy for Afghanistan will be formally unveiled by President Obama on Friday. It was described to congressional officials and others today.
The strategy includes sending 4,000 additional troops to Afghanistan to train police and army forces, according to officials briefed on details of the plan.

Those troops will be in addition to the 17,000 combat troops Obama approved last month and which are scheduled to arrive this spring and summer.Overall, the strategy will rely on a plan to split the Taliban insurgency -- separating factions that can be induced to support the U.S.-backed government from those seen as irreconcilable.

In a briefing with reporters, Blair said that roughly two-thirds of Taliban militants are primarily concerned with regional issues and can be defeated or co-opted if the struggling government in Kabul can bolster its ability to provide security and services beyond the capital.

But Blair indicated that U.S. intelligence analysts believe the remaining one-third of the insurgency is intractable.

That group, loyal to Omar, is pursuing "an overall strategy pointed towards resuming a position of power within Afghanistan," Blair said.

"Omar is certainly a tough case and thinks he ought to be running Afghanistan himself, and doesn't show many signs of settling for anything less," he said.

Omar is believed to be based in the Pakistan city of Quetta.

The combination of cross-border sanctuaries and limited U.S. intelligence capabilities underscores the hurdles that confront the United States as it seeks to replicate elements of the relatively successful stabilization of Iraq.

President Obama To visit Normandy Beaches For D-Day 65th Anniversary Ceremonies/ U.S. President Barack Obama To Visit France For D-Day Anniversary

(NSI News Source Info) PARIS, France - March 27, 2009: U.S. President Barack Obama will visit France in June for the 65th anniversary of D-Day, French President Nicolas Sarkozy's chief of staff said Thursday. (Photo/Image: Obama visited France - and French President Nicolas Sarkozy - last July as a presidential candidate).
There had been discussion of Obama going to Normandy next month on his trip to Europe, the official, Claude Gueant, told the French TV network France 24. But he would have had only an hour on the beaches where Allied forces landed on June 6, 1944, the beginning of the drive to push the Nazis out of France during World War II.
That would not have left enough time for conversations with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Gueant said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy's top aide revealed Obama's plans on Thursday, in response to media suggestions that relations between Washington and Paris are strained.

"This will allow for a longer conversation and a more ambitious bilateral visit," Claude Gueant, the secretary general in Sarkozy's Elysee Palace, told France 24 television.Gueant denied any problems between the nations' leaders, noting Sarkozy and Obama talked for half an hour Wednesday to discuss the upcoming G20 summit in London on the economic crisis.

"Relations between the presidents are excellent and very productive," he said. "Mr. Sarkozy is not courting Mr. Obama."

During the presidential campaign, Obama often talked about his family ties to World War II and the sacrifices that generation made.

President Obama will visit the French beaches of Normandy during the anniversary of D-Day, the World War II battle there that launched the Allied liberation of Europe.

Obama's maternal grandfather, Stanley Dunham, served in World War II and was later educated on the GI Bill. His great uncle, Charles Payne, was a member of the U.S. 89th infantry division and helped free inmates at a subcamp of the concentration camp at Buchenwald in Germany.

France Sells 24 Military Helicopters To Iraq
(NSI News Source Info) PARIS – March 27, 2008: France on Wednesday sealed a contract for the sale of 24 military helicopters to Iraq, its first arms deal with Baghdad since 1990.
French Defence Minister Herve Morin signed the deal worth 360 million euros (488 million dollars) for the Eurocopter EC 635s during a meeting in Paris with his Iraqi counterpart Abdul Qader Obeidi. The Eurocopter EC 635 is a light multi-purpose helicopter developed by Eurocopter as a military version of the Eurocopter EC 135. It is a twin-engined aircraft and can carry up to 8 people, including the pilot, and a range of military equipment or armaments. The helicopter is marketed for troop transport, medical evacuation, cargo transport and armed combat support missions.
France agreed to provide pilot training and provide maintenance as part of the contract.
The deal came a month after President Nicolas Sarkozy paid an historic first visit to Baghdad during which he vowed France would help Iraq's economic revival, and singled out defence as one area of cooperation.
A defence ministry official said the deal was the first contract signed between Paris and Baghdad since the 1990 Gulf War and the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Morin also announced that Paris was going to "re-open a military mission to Baghdad" at the French embassy in Baghdad "from this summer."
"We want to return to the relations that France had (with Iraq) up until the 1980s," he said.
"Then a large part of the Iraqi army was trained in France and equipped with French military equipment," he added.
Obeidi said the purchase of the helicopters was one of the Iraqi government's priorities.
He said he had had discussions about other projects with "big French companies," but did not elaborate.
Such deals, he said, would reinforce the "independence" of his country and "facilitate the agreement with the United States on the withdrawal of American forces."
Asked about France sending instructors to Iraq, Morin said France was "open to all forms of cooperation" but that it was for the "government of Iraq to express its wishes."
Sarkozy's surprise visit to Iraq last month was the first ever to the country by a French head of state.
France deeply opposed the American invasion almost six years ago which ousted Saddam Hussein, a policy decision that left it at odds with the administration of then US president George W. Bush.
Sarkozy said France would work with Iraq wherever it could to help repair the country's battered infrastructure, in business as well as security matters.
"We seek cooperation in the economic field, energy, rebuilding, and to help the police, security and Iraqi military forces, as well as restoring the international position of Iraq," he said.